


i won't leave, i want more

by GuardianKarenTerrier



Series: (i'm not) scared of the dark [3]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: adrien augreste 2k19, cat traits adrien agreste
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-08
Updated: 2019-08-08
Packaged: 2020-08-10 19:33:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20140819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GuardianKarenTerrier/pseuds/GuardianKarenTerrier
Summary: Adrien hisses in embarrassment,  A moment later, he turns bright red and throws his arm over his face to block out the sight of Nino's delighted grin. It does nothing to block out the noise Plagg makes, which this time is definitely laughter.  "Not a word Nino.""Not a word about what?" Marinette's voice calls out, and Adrien's swinging upright and twisting eagerly towards the window before she's even halfway through that sentence."Nino's picking on me," Adrien explains, climbing to one knee but not getting any further before Marinette is dropping down beside him with a sigh anyway.  She immediately leans against him and lets him duck down and rub his cheek against her hair, which he knows means he's purring again and loudly at that, but it's so worth it.





	i won't leave, i want more

**Author's Note:**

> for the 'cat traits' prompt for adrien augreste 2k19, but also a sequel to blinding leaps of faith and what's up danger- it might make more sense if you read those first, but the miraculous team all know each others identities and have a safe room in the school, and chloe and adrien and marinette bonded over their distrust of lila.

"Dude," Nino says, tilting his head. He's already upside down with his legs draped over the back of the club room's couch, so it puts him in a very weird position. "Are you like, purring on purpose, or does that just kind of happen?" 

The noise Plagg makes over on the windowsill is either a purr or a laugh, but Adrien wouldn't be willing to swear to which.

He hasn't joined Nino on the couch because there is a _perfect_ stripe of sunlight over the rug that he's sprawled bonelessly across. Adrien doesn't quite know _why_ their teacher has this room so thoroughly stocked, but he'd be lying if he said he didn't regularly take advantage. (The others can't yell at him for sleeping here sometimes, because he's run into all of them at least once already and Chloe several times). 

"The purring just kinda happens, I don't control it." Adrien flops onto his back with a sigh and a deeper purr. Nino moves enough to toss a blanket at him and Adrien snags it out of the air before nuzzling into it. "Hey, any idea when the girls are gonna be back?" 

"No idea, dude. Alya said something dismissive about spa days, though, and Chloe got a real weird look in her eyes and then so did Marinette so I think it's gonna be a while." Nino shakes his head, his hair brushing the carpet. Adrien has no idea where his hat's gone. "That's still so weird, man. Like, I know you wouldn't have known about it, but dude... Chloe's had this whole weird _thing _about Marinette since we were like _six_, I keep expecting to wake up and see them back at each other's throats."

Adrien shrugs, letting his eyes fall shut as he stretches his arms above his head with a deep yawn. "I don't know that we'd have gotten to this point if anything had happened differently. I mean, I _really_ don't think the three of us would have started hanging out all the time if we weren't all avoiding Lila." 

"Wait- _you _were avoiding Lila, too?" Nino asks, and Adrien hears him shuffle around on the couch before Nino joins him on the floor. He tries to tug some of the blanket over and Adrien clings to it just to be contrary. He lets go fairly quickly, though. "I know Marinette and Chloe don't like her but dude, you really never seemed that bothered." 

"Seemed." Adrien's not purring now. He shifts unhappily, trying to get comfortable in his sunbeam again, but the mention of Lila's soured his mood too much. "There's just- there's no point in arguing with someone who's always going to think they're in the right, you know? She doesn't listen to Ladybug and Chat Noir, she isn't going to listen to anyone else." He winces. "I'm not the one you should talk to about that, though, something sort of.. uh, you know how Chloe found out first? About Marinette?" 

"_Yes_." Nino still sounds so disgruntled about that. Adrien grins to himself, his face still turned away from Nino. "As much as I hate to acknowledge it, yes. She won't let us forget it." 

Adrien winces. Chloe won't let _him _forget it, either, but in his case that's more pointing and laughing at him when they're alone. Her crush on Ladybug was no more secret than his was, anyway, so Adrien has no problem teasing her right back. Marinette herself will tease Chloe about that now, even though it puts a really weird look on Alya's face. 

Adrien considers that a moment longer and concludes that it's probably mostly _about_ the weird look on Alya's face. Marinette doesn't tease _him_ like that, only Chloe, and they do both seem bizarrely comfortable with it. He's not honestly sure what exactly is going on there. 

"Yo, earth to Adrien?" The sudden breeze probably means Nino's waving a hand across his face. "What does any of this have to do with Chloe knowing first?" 

"She found out because of something Marinette told her- well, admitted to her. Something to do with Lila." Something to do with the way Chloe and Marinette have _both_ told akuma to give up and go away and, in Chloe's case, to find someone else. Adrien's not sure anyone else has tried telling Hawkmoth to shove it. He's not sure anyone else has ever thought _to_ try. 

He doesn't know if it works for non-Miraculous holders, but Marinette and Chloe both seem to think it should. Whether or not it _does_ is a different matter. 

Nino lets out a frustrated huff and must roll over, because he's suddenly half on top of Adrien. Adrien makes a startled noise in response and Nino starts laughing. 

"What?" Adrien asks, annoyed and a little hurt, shoving gently at Nino before his friend can take up _all_ the sunlight. He's going to have move soon to stay in the sun anyway, though, so he doesn't put any real effort into it. 

Nino's still laughing. "Oh, man, you actually _did _it, I thought Chloe made that up." 

Adrien blinks, distracted. "Wait, when did you and Chloe hang out without me?" He blinks again. "Did _what_?" 

"Right after the whole reveal thing went nuclear on us, she took me and Marinette shopping, it's not important." Nino waves dismissively, even though his explanation has only given Adrien more questions. _So many more questions_. "You did the, like, cat activation noise, dude." 

"I did _not_," Adrien says, indignantly, but his heart is sinking because he's pretty sure he _did_. He _knows _he's made more cat noises than just purring when he and Marinette are out at night, even though she never mentions them when they aren't transformed and she only laughs when it happens anyway. 

(Well, laughs or flicks his bell or scratches behind his ears or- There's a reason he still prefers when the two of them patrol together). 

Nino swats gently at his arm and Adrien realises he must have done the thing where he stares off into space and grins like an idiot again. "Dude. Dude, no. That's the look you get when you're thinking about yours and Marinette's patrols, stop that, I don't wanna know." 

Finally giving up on his nap entirely, Adrien sits up and eyes Nino with curiosity. "What do you think we _do_ on patrol?" He considers that, then amends it to, "What do you and _Alya _do on patrol?" 

"We patrol!" Nino flips over again as he says that, though, flinging one arm over his eyes and not looking at Adrien. "We _patrol_, dude, that's enough, all right? The rooftop running is plenty exhilarating all on its own and also you are totally changing the subject. You made that like _mrr_ noise that cats do when you're trying to get their attention, it's _great_." 

Adrien hisses in embarrassment, A moment later, he turns bright red and throws his arm over his face to block out the sight of Nino's delighted grin. It does nothing to block out the noise Plagg makes, which this time is _definitely_ laughter. "Not a _word_ Nino." 

"Not a word about what?" Marinette's voice calls out, and Adrien's swinging upright and twisting eagerly towards the window before she's even halfway through that sentence. 

"Nino's picking on me," Adrien explains, climbing to one knee but not getting any further before Marinette is dropping down beside him with a sigh anyway. She immediately leans against him and lets him duck down and rub his cheek against her hair, which he _knows_ means he's purring again and loudly at that, but it's so worth it. 

She raises an eyebrow at him, even as Chloe and then a very disgruntled looking Alya thump through the window as well. Chloe turns to shut and lock the window behind them. 

Nino sits up too, just as eager to see Alya even if he won't admit it. Nino doesn't have Wayzz today, but Pollen buzzes out from Chloe's ponytail immediately and Tikki and Trixx dart from their respective hiding places as well. 

"How was the-" Nino's brow furrows. "Okay, I don't actually know what you were doing, but how was it?" 

"Great!" Marinette says, beaming and squirming closer to Adrien, even as a very disgruntled Alya mutters, "It was terrible." 

Chloe sniffs and inspects her nails, but Adrien is close enough to catch the familiar gleam of amusement in her eyes as she flips her hair back. "Alya simply doesn't appreciate the finer points in life." 

"Alya doesn't appreciate having to _sit still_ for two hours straight," Alya complains right back, before dropping to the floor with a huff. Now that Adrien's looking for it, he can see that yes, all three of the girl's nails are freshly painted- Chloe's are red with spots, and her face reddens as well when Adrien raises an eyebrow at her. 

Marinette's nails are black and dotted with neon paw prints, which makes him glow a little inside with pride. 

Alya's nails are simpler than the others, only painted a very familiar shade of green, but she keeps glaring at them. "I told you I didn't want to go to a salon." 

Marinette shrugs. "It's fun, Alya. And relaxing." 

Alya flops back against Nino's side- which presses Nino into Adrien, which knocks Adrien into Marinette, which sends all of them tumbling into a tangled heap. Chloe starts laughing as they slowly extricate themselves. 

Well, mostly. Adrien and Marinette don't really bother to separate from each other. 

They generally don't, these days. 

"Chloe," Marinette says then, mildly, and Chloe sighs very loudly and makes her way around Nino and Alya to drop down on Marinette's other side. 

They do all manage to twist themselves into a loose circle after that, knowing from experience it will make it easier to have a conversation, but Adrien notices with amusement most of them stay in contact with each other. Chloe seems torn for a minute about where exactly to sit, but Marinette shoulder-checks her gently and gives her a surprisingly bright look. 

Chloe's expression clears and she gets up to edge Nino out of the way so that she can sit next to Adrien. 

Plagg lands on Adrien's shoulder with a soft snicker before nudging him affectionately. Adrien pauses a moment at that, slightly startled, because Plagg isn't normally terribly affectionate where other people can see them. 

Maybe Plagg's just feeling as relaxed from napping in the sun as Adrien himself is. 

Adrien settles in to discuss the week's patrol schedule with his friends and tries not to worry about it too much. 

He mostly succeeds, too, until much later that night when he transforms and dives out the window after the Gorilla's last check. He never goes straight to the club room- he's pretty sure Ladybug would _know_, somehow, and that she would _not_ approve if he risked such an obvious trail- but he cuts his meandering trip over a lot shorter this time. 

Chloe's there, already asleep on the couch, Pollen just barely visible where she's nestled in Chloe's ponytail. That's not unusual. Adrien's still faintly surprised by it every time, because Chloe isn't the sort of person he'd _ever_ pictured sleeping on a couch, but then he can't exactly bring it up without inviting his own round of pointed questions in return. 

Also, Marinette is sprawled on her back on the rug. Tikki is napping on her stomach and Marinette has one hand draped over her kwami. 

Marinette shows up less frequently than anyone but Alya. It's more common for Adrien or Chloe or, increasingly frequently, both of them to sneak into Marinette's bedroom or onto her balcony than it is for Marinette to sneak into the club room. Adrien wonders what happened. 

Then his eyes drop to Chloe's painted nails, trailing lightly on the floor where her arm dangles off the couch, and Marinette's own black-and-green nails where they're pressed over Tikki. He winces. 

There _is _a specific reason they find Marinette here sometimes, and that reason is Alya. 

As relieved as Marinette and Adrien both are to be seeing more of their best friends again, it _had_ hurt to see them believe Lila over believing the two of them. Adrien, to his own surprise, is less upset about it than Marinette is- he has Nino back _now_, and Nino apologised, and Adrien knows he didn't really mean to do it anyway. 

But Alya and Marinette's friendship started when they teamed up against a bully. (That the bully in question was Chloe is not exactly helping matters now). Marinette had expected Alya to back her up, had been counting on it, and then Alya- hadn't. 

Adrien's overriding emotion at having Nino back was simply relief. Marinette, however, is finding it a lot harder to trust Alya as much as she did before. 

And Alya knows it. 

Adrien and Chloe aren't the only ones who sometimes drop in through Marinette's window at night. 

(It is a little hilarious, at least to Adrien, that _everyone_ goes to Marinette's. Chloe has more room, and getting caught wouldn't really matter between most of them, but they still _all_ go either here or straight to Marinette's given half a chance). 

The net result is that Marinette will sometimes sleep in the club room if she's avoiding Alya, because it's much rarer for Alya to come sleep at the school than it is for the rest of them. Adrien suspects that's directly related to how often _Chloe_ is here, but then he's still sort of surprised himself at how many times he's found Chloe asleep on the couch. 

Once when Adrien was asleep on the couch himself he'd even startled awake to find Chloe and Marinette both asleep on the rug, and sleeping on the floor of her own free will is not something he ever expected to see Chloe do. 

As if his thoughts have been loud enough to wake her, Chloe stirs. She cracks both eyes open the barest sliver, yawns, and then gestures vaguely at the floor and Marinette. 

Adrien raises both eyebrows at her. 

Chloe rolls to better face him and slits both eyes further open into a groggy glare, before gesturing more imperiously at the scrap of space left open on the floor between herself and Marinette. 

Marinette's eyes crack open, too, and she also glances at Adrien and then the spot beside her meaningfully. 

Adrien feels the tension drop out of his shoulder before he even realises that it's there. He drops his transformation at the same time and Plagg flits into one of the desks they've long since shoved aside, hunting for cheese. He'll be back once Adrien's gotten comfortable. He always is. 

"Didn't exactly leave us a lot of room," Adrien teases in a whisper, even as he ducks down and curls into the warm span of rug between his friends. Immediately Chloe rolls back over. This time, her trailing hand rests on the side of Adrien's shoulder as he wriggles to put his back up against the couch, facing Marinette. 

Marinette snorts. "Since when do cats need a lot of room?" 

She rolls, too, carefully shifting Tikki before wrapping her arms around Adrien. It's awkward and the angle is bad and they jab each other with their elbows more times than Adrien cares to count, but they're both muffling giggles the whole time and it's easy to know Chloe's quiet huffs for the amused noise they are. 

"This is ridiculous," Chloe mutters after five minutes of scrambling around and snickering. "Marinette, switch with Adrien, you're the strategist here. Strategise us more comfortable." 

"That isn't how that works," Marinette complains, but even as she does she flips Adrien over herself and rolls into the space he's vacated. Adrien lies where he is for a moment, torn between stunned and impressed, and then scrambles back onto his side so he can cling to Marinette again. 

"Kitty," Marinette says, though her barely-repressed giggle gives away that she's still enjoying herself, too. "This is the same problem. No hugs, this is not the time for hugs, none of us are gonna get any sleep that way, you could turn a bit and use my side as a pillow or something." 

He _could_, but that wouldn't be enough physical contact to satisfy him. Adrien doesn't think he's quite willing to say that yet, though. Instead he squirms around until he's stretched out alongside Marinette, head pillowed on his arms and most of his left side in contact with her right. 

He glances over at her to see that Chloe's freshly-manicured hand is now just barely brushing Marinette's side, red-and-black nail polish complementing the pink and white Marinette is wearing. Adrien blinks at Marinette and she shrugs minutely back, but she doesn't move away from either of them, and it strikes him suddenly that Marinette _deliberately_ moved to be closer to Chloe. 

He wonders uncomfortably just what happened between the girls today. He doesn't feel comfortable asking, or at least right now he doesn't- that's the kind of conversation he tends to save for patrols- but _something_ clearly did. 

He doesn't have to wait for patrol anyway. Once Chloe's breathing has deepened and evened out again, Marinette whispers his name. 

Adrien is going to go right ahead and choose to ignore that his response was _definitely_ what Nino would call a cat activation noise. 

It doesn't matter when it's Marinette, anyway. He can _hear_ the amused smile in her voice when she speaks again, just as quietly. "I, uh. I thought that maybe I could get Chloe and Alya more used to each other if we just tried going out together." There's a rustling noise as she moves slightly, pressing lightly back against Chloe's hand without sacrificing any of her proximity to Adrien. "It didn't- it didn't go well." 

Adrien turns his head enough to blink at her. He's careful to keep his own voice down, even though Chloe waking back up wouldn't change the course of their conversation. Ever since they'd all learned each other's identities, quite by accident, they've hardly been bothering to keep secrets from each other. "What happened?" 

Marinette sighs, deeply enough that Adrien feels his own chest rise and fall in sympathy. "Alya spent the first hour making snide little comments about Chloe and waiting for me to agree, and then got defensive when I didn't." She's silent for a moment, but then she takes another deep breath and continues. "And I would have, once. Recently. Really, really recently. But it's different, and I told Alya that, and asked her to stop, and-" She winces. 

"She didn't stop," Adrien guesses, unhappily. 

"Not at all." Marinette sounds sad more than anything. "And then Chloe may have- said some things about how if Alya were a better friend, then maybe I wouldn't have ditched her for Chloe." 

Adrien makes an affronted noise. Plagg comes back and settles in the folds of his shirt collar, but doesn't say anything.

Marinette shrugs, carefully. Chloe's hand barely moves. "I know. I just didn't know that _Chloe _felt that way about it. She kept going, too, she snapped at Alya for never apologising and- well, they didn't actually kick us out of the spa, but I'm pretty sure if Chloe weren't with us we'd have been asked to leave." 

"She really never said sorry?" Adrien asks, quietly. 

"No." Marinette closes her eyes. "I know she _is_, but she never did actually say it. Not like Nino did." 

Adrien knows very well he would have forgiven Nino no matter what, but now doesn't seem like the best time to bring that up. 

"So," he starts, then struggles to put his impression into words, then gives up and says the first thing that came to mind anyway. "So it didn't go well because Chloe and Alya were arguing over you." 

"If she can't appreciate that she lied to Ladybug and Ladybug _forgave_ her, then she doesn't deserve her as a friend," Chloe says, face muffled in the couch. 

"I thought you were asleep," Adrien says mildly. 

Marinette levers herself upright on one elbow and tugs at Chloe's hand. "Come down here and join us." 

"I am not sleeping on the floor." Chloe opens one eye and turns her head to glare. It's not very effective with the couch pattern pressed onto the side of her face. Adrien desperately muffles a snicker before he can offend her. "I got here first." 

"It's warmer on the floor," Adrien offers. 

Chloe sniffs. "If I wanted to be warmer then there are blankets in the cabinet_._" 

"Yes but you'd have to get up for them," Marinette teases. 

"I'd have to get up to join you," Chloe retorts. "And you're both bad at changing the subject. She _doesn't_ deserve you." 

"Chloe." Marinette's voice is tired. "Don't. Please." 

Adrien presses harder into Marinette at the exhausted note in her voice. She reaches out to trail one hand through his hair in turn, earning a purr. 

Chloe looks like she's starting to consider rolling off the couch. 

"I wouldn't _be_ Ladybug without both Alya and Adrien." Marinette's voice is very quiet, and there's a long, ringing moment of silence before she adds, "And you, Chloe. If I hadn't caught you I couldn't be Ladybug, but I wouldn't have been able to if Adrien hadn't encouraged me, and I wouldn't have been there _at all_ if Alya hadn't convinced me first." 

"She doesn't even know she did that!" Chloe finally _does_ move off the couch, trying to squeeze in on Marinette's other side. There isn't enough room for that but Adrien quickly moves over so that there will be. 

"Does it _matter_?" Marinette asks, exasperated. "Chloe, I'm not asking you two to be friends, I'm asking you _not_ to be enemies! Be coworkers, if you want to think of it that way! What happens if one of you starts this during a _battle_?" 

"Adrien, surely you don't agree with her?" Chloe demands, drawing Adrien back into the argument. "_You_ wouldn't still be friends with her!" 

He hesitates, but then Plagg's claws prickle against his shoulder. Plagg knows too well when Adrien's holding himself back from expressing his opinion. Adrien is still a lot quieter than he intends, but then for once he's aware of how loaded his words are. "I'd put up with a lot more than that to keep a friend, Chlo." 

Chloe goes silent. Worryingly silent. 

Eventually, she reaches over Marinette and gropes around until she finds Adrien's hand and then holds on, very tightly, once his own fingers close around hers. Marinette, for her part, only shrugs herself into a more comfortable position and doesn't seem to mind that they're now both draped partway over her. 

Adrien thinks he's beginning to realise just what the shift in Chloe and Marinette's relationship was about. If he's right, and he isn't about to ask, then it can't be helping the situation with Alya. 

He can't help but feel guilty at how _relieved _he is that they've made it obvious they both care about _him_, too. If he's right, and Plagg can probably talk him through it the next time they're alone, then he's curious about how exactly that kind of relationship is going to work. 

But he doesn't doubt that they _can_ make it work. 

When someone does break the silence, it's Tikki. The kwami yawns, blinking tiredly, as she offers, "Alya will come around. She just needs time." 

Chloe makes an unintelligible noise, Marinette elbows her, and then they all three settle back into a more comfortable position. 

Eventually their friendships will, too. Marinette seems confident in that, and so does Tikki, and Adrien trusts their judgment. 

**Author's Note:**

> i didnt tag this for adrien/marinette/chloe because adrien is only just, uh, noticing that, but it is very much intended that way.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic] i won't leave, i want more](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24375736) by [zyr (zhadyra)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/zhadyra/pseuds/zyr)


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